Recipe Files

The Recipes from the Produce Club for the week of September 26 include:

Pan Satueed Soft Shell Crabs Francaise over Louisiana Rice

Coconut-Crusted Soft-Shell Crab with Mango Chutney

Okra Sausage Stew Over Rice

About Fuyu Persimmons

Fuyu Persimmon, Pear and Walnut Rolled Tart

Fuyu Persimmon, Pear and Pine Nut Salad

Roasted Peanuts

Cherry Tomato Frittata with Corn, Basil and Goat Cheese

Want Ads: WANTED FALL VEG GRWR 4 WMM

We've been beating the bushes literally to find farmers who are planting exciting fall and winter crops. We've got a good start on our fall lineup but are still in need of some seeds in the ground ASAP! Do you or someone you know have a green thumb or want to give it a try? We will buy fruits and vegetables from YOU!

Below is a list of things we are looking for- if you can make it grow give us a call! We will buy it for our Produce Club. We are looking for unusual varieties, organic vegetables when possible, and anything we've never tried! But our favorites are:

spinach

carrots

parsnips

apples

celery

chicorie

frisee/ curly endive

fennel

garlic

tomatillos

leeks

spaghetti squash

brussels sprouts

broccoli raabe

brocolini

cauliflower

yellow and red beets 

arugula

swiss chard

watercress

endive

fava beans

radicchio

radish

peppers

pecans

varieties of onions

shallots

What's Growing at the Windmill

The front beds, which were home to tomatoes, eggplants, and melons all summer long, have just been cleaned, tidied, composted, rested and now replanted! Whew! Keeps Mac busy. We wanted to share some pictures in case you haven't been out to see us recently. Before you know it these urban beds will bear a Fall bounty! Stay tuned.

Chinese Cabbage in a Fresh Bed of Compost- See the Eggshells???

Onions Just Planted Under the Trees

Sweet Peas Planted on Bancroft St

Swiss Chard Shoots

Watermelon Volunteers Left Over from Summer Days

Hot Banana Peppers Growing by the Cisterns

Some Eggplant Still Producing Out Front

Dancy Tangerines by the Patio and Stage- Almost There!

Time Magazine Moneyland Article: Skip the SuperMarket for a Year

SMART SPENDING

Q&A: What We Learned Skipping Supermarkets and Restaurants For a Year

By BRAD TUTTLE | @bradrtuttle | September 15, 2011 |

Last October, Rachel Hoff and Tom Ferguson embarked on an experiment in hyper-locavore healthy eating. For the next 12 months, the couple from Vallejo, Calif., wouldn’t set foot in a grocery store or restaurant. Their family’s diet would consist entirely of non-processed foods gathered from farmers markets, a local sustainable food-buying club, and their own quarter-acre backyard. During the experiment’s final three months, Hoff and Ferguson didn’t buy any food at all—relying strictly on the bounty produced from animals and gardens on their property, and what they could get bartering with neighbors and nearby farmers.

The couple chronicled the year-long challenge in their blog, A Year Without Groceries, and they answer my questions below.

How has your experiment evolved throughout the year—in terms of how you prepare meals and cook, and also the rules you abide by?

Rachel: Our start date was technically October 1st but we had actually stopped buying groceries two weeks prior to that kind of like a test, I suppose. By the time October 1st hit it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as it should have been. I mean, we’d already done two weeks. That’s basically the same as a year, right? As the weeks flew by we started to get into the groove of things and we realized that it wasn’t really as big of a challenge as we thought it would be. Being complete gluttons for punishment we decided after six months that for the last three months we wouldn’t buy any food at all and rely entirely on what we raised, grew, and already had on our shelves.

I enjoyed cooking when we started this, and for the first half of the year I was really into it. I loved making food from scratch that we would normally buy pre-made like cured meats, pasta, mayonnaise, crackers, and cheese. It was that whole “Hey Ma! Look what I can do!” mentality. But it eventually wore off and turned into the equivalent of going to the dentist. I had to do it, but completely dreaded it. The only bonus is that with so much practice I was able to make most of those foods really quickly, thus reducing the amount of pain I had to endure.

Recipe Files

The recipes from the produce Club for the week of September 19 are:

Spiced Beef Corn Bread Cobbler

Yellow Tomato Gazpacho with Cilantro Oil and Avocado

Grilled-Onion Salad with Mixed Greens and Goat Cheese

Vidalia Onion Pie

Oven-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Satsuma Tapenade

Satsuma Cocktail

To Pot or Not To Pot

Published: Friday, September 09, 2011, 3:18 AM

By Bill Finch

Click here to view the original article on al.com.

Q: You’ve said now is the time to start sowing seeds for a fall, winter and spring vegetable garden along the Gulf Coast, and that some plants should be sown in pots before planting in the garden. If these vegetables are hardy, and they’re going to go in the garden anyway, why can’t I just plant seeds directly in the garden?

A: Some seeds, you can do just that. Fava beans, turnips, peas, carrots, parsnips, for example — should be planted directly in the garden when the temperatures start cooling in late September and early October.

But there are some slow-to-develop cool season vegetables — collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, to name a few — that are much more productive if you start them in pots while the weather is still warm.

The cool seasons is an abundant season for gardening along the Gulf Coast — and arguably the easiest season for gardening, with minimal needs for watering and few pests or diseases. But as the days shorten leading up to December 25, light becomes an increasingly precious commodity. And as you should know, it’s light that makes plants grow and produce leaves, flowers and fruits. Plants that haven’t built up enough strength earlier in the year may just stop growing.

To be successful during the cool seasons, you often need to “borrow” a few weeks of long late summer days (along with the bugs and heat) so that your plant is ready to produce before the short days of winter slow down growth. And the best way to dodge the bugs and the heat is to plant seeds inside in pots in August and September. That way the plants will be nice and big and ready to start producing when the weather cools down.

Recipe Files

Recipes from the Produce Club for the week of September 12 are:

Spice-Roasted Salmon with Cucumber Salad (Tandoori Spice)

Edamame, Corn and Tomato Salad

Shaved Summer Squash Salad

Sweet Potato and Poblano Salad with Honey and Rosemary

Chicken Saltimbocca

Farmageddon??!!?

I just watched an amazing trailer for a documentary about the plight of small, family-run farms that I wanted to share. Over the last few months as the WestSide Grocery has grown and our offerings have expanded, we have noticed how difficult it is to find products produced, grown and raised by small farms. Why is this? People have offered a number of reasons, and for every product and every situation the circumstances are certainly unique.

But it does seem to me that often (not always) government regulation of our food industry makes it difficult for the little guy to get his product to the market. And the things that government regulations control are not things that I necessarily want in my food. While the things that matter to me are not monitored or controlled whatsoever.

This is a sensitive issue that people are talking about all over the country. Watch the trailer for Farmageddon and let us know what you have to say about it all! Let's get a conversation started... (We are hoping to have this movie screened here at the market in the near future so stay tuned!)

Farmageddon - Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

Recipe Files

The recipes for the Produce Club for the week of September 6 are:

Avocado Salad with Peaches

Avocado Ice Pops

Pears Poached in Red Wine, Cardamom and Orange

Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan Pine Nuts

Boiled Peanuts

Smoked Sausage and Black Eyed Peas

Dirty Rice with Smoked Sausage

Shrimp on Sugarcane with Rum Glaze